Amonkhet Prerelease 2017-04-23

I love prerelease time!  For Amonkhet, I went on Sunday morning, which is probably the quietest normal event at my local store (Sunday evening they do 2-Headed Giant format, which might be lighter attendance).  It's a combination of people who couldn't make it on Saturday and people so hardcore that they played all day Saturday and came back for more on Sunday.

I have had very mixed luck with my prerelease promos -- while they're usually playable, they're not usually super exciting.  This time was different, and I got possibly the most valuable AKH prerelease promo (both current and long-term):

The rest of my rares (plus a couple of pretty lands pictured) gave me some dollar value, but not much that was super exciting for Sealed.

Pyramid of the Pantheon is a Shimmering Grotto (or Painted Bluffs) that eventually turns into a Lotus Vale, which is a bad mana investment, and Failure to Comply and Pull from Tomorrow seem better for Constructed play.  Harsh Mentor is a creature you'll always play but whose ability is usually blank in Sealed.  Sheltered Thicket and Never to Return are both cards you'll get good value from but never dominate a game with.  And Gideon, well he played exactly like I expected, a huge lifegain spell that can sometimes attack (and that is very good, mind you).

One of the things that I don't like about playing Sealed is that you only use about 23 of your 90 new cards in your deck, and only 2 or 3 of the 5 colors, so I have been trying to get better at building quickly enough that I can put together two decks (assuming the power is there).  Drafting more has definitely helped me, as (a) you have less time to build a draft deck and (b) sometimes the cut decisions are harder because the 20th - 25th best cards in your colors are all pretty good, which doesn't usually happen in Sealed.  Long story short, I went in with the goal of building two decks.  I didn't open any great cards with tricky build-around requirements, so it was pretty straightforward to throw together two decks this time around (with time left over).  Here are "White-Black Zombie Aggro" and "Red-Green Reptile Control."

Both decks are pretty standard curve-out creature decks, but there are some important differences.  The zombie deck is much lower to the ground, starting with creatures and finishing with combat tricks and big black removal spells that kill anything.  The reptile deck starts with cheap removal spells and finishes with a nearly unstoppable Scaled Behemoth or other big beater.  Also, with two creatures with reach and two Stinging Shot, this deck is better able to handle tough fliers.  Instead of building one deck with a sideboard, the RG deck is the sideboard against almost anything that the WB deck can't handle, and it is also a change-up to throw out there if I see the opponent sideboarding against my WB deck.  My plan going in was to play WB Game 1, then switch if I'm on the draw for Game 2 or if I feel like I need to.  It's worth mentioning that I was very lucky to get good curves and solid creatures in both decks, plus I had a ridiculous number of good cheap non-creature spells for both decks.  It's not always possible to build two decks worth playing.

For reference, here are the cards I didn't play.  Blue wasn't horrible, but I didn't see anything exciting or particularly synergistic about it.

So how did it go?

Round 1 was against C, a regular who was also playing WB.  In Game 1 I was on the play with WB, and I won by thwarting his attempts to get a good hit with In Oketra's Name by playing timely Djeru's Resolve.  He had Finish (Start to Finish) in the graveyard but since it's not an instant, he left up mana and ended up not being able to play either spell.  I played RG in Game 2 on the draw, winning again, with the Scaled Behemoth eventually dwarfing anything he could play.  Both games were extremely close.  He had the Masterpiece version of Bontu (the black god) in his deck but I never saw it.  Win, 2-0.

Round 2 was against A, who was also working for the store.  His deck was white-red, and he had a Harsh Mentor like me.  I won Game 1 on the play with WB, then lost Game 2 on the draw with RG.  In Game 3 I pulled WB back out on the play.  He had an early lead, but I was able to stave off lethal hits with a growing Grim Strider.  I baited an attack since he looked well in control and had 13 life, then I turned around and killed him on my turn by pumping my team of zombies with In Oketra's Name for the win.  Win, 2-1.

Round 3 was against J1, another store employee.  He was Jund (black-red-green).  His deck was very strong.  In Game 1 (WB), I hung in for a long time but wasn't able to make much headway because he was protecting his Baleful Ammit (lifelink) well and gained 12 life over the course of the game.  I eventually wore his board down until we both had no creatures.  We topdecked creatures for a couple turns, then he drew his promo Sandwurm Convergence, and I conceded with my life at 3 and his at 20.  I switched to RG on the draw for Game 2.  I had a reasonably good start, but he did some disgusting things with Warfire Javelineer and Supernatural Stamina to obliterate my board.  Loss, 0-2.

Round 4 I was paired with J2, who said he mostly plays EDH.  Since we were both 2-1, we decided to split the prize and play for the uneven pack (3 wins gets 7 packs and 2 wins gets 0, so it makes sense to split 4-3 unless you like to gamble).  Game 1 I was WB, and my horde curved out excellently.  He had Oketra (white god), but when he cast it he had no other creatures so it didn't do anything.  I stayed with WB in Game 2 because I hadn't drawn Gideon the whole tournament.  And I drew Gideon!  I also drew only plains, so Gideon's job was mostly defense.  Gideon probably gained me a virtual 15+ life by turning off attackers and upticking, and I was able to attack with him once (although knowing I wouldn't draw swamps for a while, I probably would have continued upticking that turn too).  He had Curator of Mysteries for his promo, and once he broke through Gideon, it was game over pretty quickly.  He was completely flummoxed when I came back with RG in Game 3 ("Oh my god he has a second deck!").  We got off to a fairly even start, but he drew a third bomb creature in Angler Drake and made me replay my stuff while he attacked from the air.  I was just too slow and lost a good game.  Loss, 1-2.

By the numbers, I was 2-2 in matches and 5-5 in games.  WB Zombies was 4-2 and RG Reptiles was 1-3.  I do think both decks were good, but neither was amazing.  The guy who handed me my prerelease pack was jokingly grumbling that he should have kept that one because of the Gideon promo, but he had an actually amazing WUR deck and went 3-0, split (Drake Haven, Approach of the Second Sun, Glorybringer, and a ton of cycling).

I think it was odd that I opened no gods, monuments, or trials, and only 2 cartouches, but it also made deckbuilding easier.  I also had minimal cycling, embalm, and -1/-1 counters cards.  I did use exert a lot, and it was fun and a little tricky to play.  For one thing, you have to decide whether you're exerting at the same time you attack, and it only took me one opponent asking "Are you exerting?" before I caught on.  As always, I made a couple minor mistakes just because I wasn't used to these cards, but so did my opponents.  The worst I can remember are forgetting to play a 2-drop because I thought it was a 3-drop, and not using cycling on my own turn when I needed to draw a land to play.

Cards that I liked included In Oketra's Name, which at 2 mana and instant is not bad even as just a trick that can also be played as a finisher.  It does need zombies to work best.  Djeru's Resolve was also quite good, especially since it has cycling.  I was on both sides of Djeru's Resolve surprises.  Cartouche of Solidarity feels like a ridiculous value for 1 mana.  Grim Strider and to a lesser extent Thresher Lizard both grew very easily in my decks, and it's fun that you can grow them as a surprise in addition to playing an instant from your hand.  Quarry Hauler never used its ability in 3 times I saw it played, but I'm sure it's great when it happens.  It's really hard to get great exert value out of Devoted Crop-Mate since you're either sending a 3-drop to his doom or losing him for a turn to resurrect a 2-drop.  Blighted Bat looks like it should be really bad, but I was on both sides of fights where Bats were the only things getting through for attacks, and I wasted big removal spells on them.  The Scaled Behemoth is a legitimate bomb monster if you can cast it.

Here's what I walked away with.  Yay!

The four-sided die was a giveaway for completing some kind of quest -- I got it just by asking the store employee.  I'm not really sure what it's for.  I don't think it's for brick counters since brick counter cards only need 3, but I can't think of anything else that would make sense.

When Battle for Zendikar came out almost 2 years ago, they designed a prerelease box that doubled as a pretty good deck box.  Then after that block they kept fiddling with the design and making boxes that were prettier and more useless than the last.  This time I was skeptical, but despite having a stand-up sarcophagus gimmicky shape, I actually like this one because it is good for Limited.  When the deck slot is stood up, you can fit a deck, your extra cards, and your tokens all standing up for easy access.  I don't like putting my cards all the way away during a draft while I change seats, but I've spilled my whole deck on the floor a couple times while trying to shortcut it.  See how nice this was for my two prerelease decks and extra cards?  Thanks Wizards!

Last, they printed a new token card that has punch-out bits to use for embalm, exert, bricks, and -1/-1 counters.  Well, I figured out how to use it pretty quickly.  Just throw the whole card on an exerted (or embalmed, if you don't have the appropriate token card) creature, and voila!  And if you're using bricks or counters, just use dice like normal.

As always, I had a great time.  I think AKH will be a fun set to draft (and Strike Zone is also holding a Sealed format PPTQ tournament May 13, so I'll be doing Sealed again too).

Have any thoughts about the prerelease or Amonkhet?  Ideas for how I should have built my deck(s) better?  Please share in the comments.

Preparing for Amonkhet Limited and the Prerelease

Everyone is writing and recording all kinds of useful information for Amonkhet in the week before the prerelease (go play!).  Instead of rehashing all the same stuff that other people are saying ("Embalm is good because it's like an extra card."  "Cycling is good because it smoothes your draws."  "Sphinx of Mysteries is good because it's a 4/4 flier for 4."), I'm going to try to find some other things to say and also poke the other side of some of the prevalent ratings and arguments.

Please do read other people's stuff, like this and this and especially this, because it's good information that I won't be saying below.

Card of the Day

I like Those Who Serve a lot for Limited.  That's your tease, and we'll come back to it.

Trial of Errors

Every new set comes with fun new ways for players, new and veteran, to make mistakes.  Don't make these mistakes at the prerelease, and don't let your opponent make them either.

Misplaying -1/-1 Counters

   

Green, black, and, to a lesser extent, red put -1/-1 counters on things.  In most cases, they put those counters on your own creatures!  This should be obvious when it's a creature that does it, because the creature will be otherwise overpowered for its casting cost.  Read the text carefully, and don't make the mistake of casting a creature thinking it puts -1/-1 counters on an opponent's creature when it only hits your own.  And even more important, don't let your opponent do it to you!

But wait, there's more to get wrong with -1/-1 counters!  When a card puts more than one counter on a creature, it usually requires that all the counters go on the same creature.  Soulstinger and Stinging Shot don't allow you to spread counters around.  Splendid Agony does.  Again, read the cards you play and the cards your opponent plays.  Soulstinger is pretty complicated for a common, so just read it now and memorize it, because people will be playing it and they might be playing it wrong!

Misplaying Sorcery Speed Effects

The second half of an Aftermath split card is always a sorcery.  The first half is often (but not always) an instant.  For example, Start to Finish would be nice to cast all at instant speed.  It's still good, but read the card before you play it wrong.

Stir the Sands has the opposite thing going on.  The card is a sorcery, but it has a cycling effect that can be played at instant speed.  You can use the cycling mode as an ambush.

And finally, Embalm is a sorcery speed effect.  It says so on the card, but make sure your opponents aren't trying to flash embalm things.

Monuments are Legendary

This probably won't come up too often, but you (or the person sitting across from you) might feel like some of these are strong enough to play in multiples.  These uncommons are legendary (which is unusual for uncommons), so no stacking allowed.

There are plenty of individual cards with misplay potential, especially at rare and mythic where the complexity goes up, but those above are the ones that stuck out most to me.  Since embalm and aftermath both involve graveyard and exile, you'll also want to make sure it's clear which cards are where.

Trial of Value

My second topic is the one that cuts against all the things I've been reading: Value Flood.  We just left a format that had very few mana sinks and rewarded players for using the bare minimum number of lands they could get away with.  Welcome to Amonkhet, where all of the new abilities except exert are mana sinks.

Reading some of the embalm and cycling cards reminds me of megamorph from Dragons of Tarkir.

 

These don't play exactly the same, but they can be compared.  The Skirmisher is a 2/1 for 1U, which is not great.  Then, when it dies, you can play it again as a 2/1 for 3U, which is horrible.  But it's free value, you might say.  No, it's expensive value.  Consider a game where you draw an average hand, and one of those cards is the Skirmisher.  How often will you also want that hand to contain a free 8th card that's a 2/1 for 4 mana?  You definitely don't want to play it on Turn 4, or 5, or probably 6.  A 2/1 for 4 mana is a card that you will only play when you have absolutely nothing else in your hand worth playing.  Yes, there will be an occasional game where you just keep drawing lands and this ability is what saves you, but there will be many more games where you played a 2/1 for 1U and never even thought about embalming it because the game ended too soon or you kept having better things to do with your mana.

And that's how it's like Guardian Shield-Bearer.  You might play the Shield-Bearer as a 2-drop or as a barely better 3-drop, but many are the games where megamorphing it is never the best use of your mana (although the megamorph is probably slightly better because it's an instant speed trick).

Why does this happen?  Because you have other cards in your deck with embalm, aftermath, and cycling.  I've played plenty of games where I got stuck with cards in my hand that I truly wanted to cast but never had the mana math work out before the game was over.  A 2/1 for 3U is not a card I ever really want to cast, but the fact is that the Skirmisher is still strictly better than the same creature without embalm, and we do see that creature in a fair number of Limited environments.

 

Now the devil's advocate argument against cycling.  In Kaladesh and Aether Revolt, we played a lot of Prophetic Prisms in decks where they usually cycled and didn't do a lot else.  That wasn't so bad, because the other cards in our decks were cheap and we got occasional use out of it for mana fixing, artifact synergies, and improvise costs.

Now, can you say the same for Floodwaters?  Floodwaters is pretty cool if you can cast it.  It even kills embalmed zombies and other tokens.  But you probably don't want too many copies of expensive cycling cards like Floodwaters in your deck, because sometimes you're going to have nothing in your hand but cycling cards you can't cast, and you'll wish you had just played some cheap cards with less flexibility like your opponent, who is beating down on you every turn while you just spin your wheels trying to cast things that are slightly overpriced because they have cycling.  Don't let cycling make you think you don't need a normal mana curve, or that cards with Cycling 2 count as 2-drops.

Cycling alone probably won't get you in too much trouble (and with certain enablers it becomes very good to just cycle things), but once you add embalm and aftermath to the mix, you can easily build a deck that value floods itself.

Trial of Shiny New Things

Take a look at these two cards:

 

Are these good commons?

Spearmaster can attack for 4 sometimes.  He can also die to any of the -1/-1 counters cards, or various other common removal like Magma Spray.  Play him if you want to attack a lot early, but 3/1 for 3 mana is often just asking to trade down.

Unwavering Initiate has the innate value of sometimes coming back from the dead.  Vigilance is nice, but less relevant on a creature that dies easily in combat.  Magma Spray takes him out and stops him from coming back.  Even if he dies normally, we again have the situation of an embalm creature that is quite overcosted, so I probably don't have to worry about seeing him again until the board is cluttered or dominated by larger creatures.

 

And then you have my card of the day, Those Who Serve.  For the same cost as the two above you get a creature that has better stats than you ever get on a common white 3-drop, plus it's a zombie, which is relevant.  It sucks up -1/-1 counters like a champ, and it wins combat straight up against both of the above creatures (excluding exert).  The only thing it doesn't do is have extra value, because the extra value is built into the creature's stats.

That's not to say that Those Who Serve is some kind of amazing creature.  It's just a pretty good common that I'd be happy to play.

Trial of Aggression

 

A pretty good aggressive opening play is Bloodlust Inciter on Turn 1 followed by Exemplar of Strength Turn 2.  But where do you put the -1/-1 counters?  With correct timing, you can put them on the Inciter and still give the Exemplar haste, so that's not an issue.

If you put them on the Exemplar, you still have the Inciter for future haste and you get incremental value as you attack with Exemplar.  But the downside is that the Exemplar can be stonewalled by a blocker pretty easily.  You wouldn't want to attack it into a worse creature that trades with it, and when it's 2/2 or 3/3 there are plenty of common on-curve answers.

On the other hand, if you put the counters on the Inciter, you have a 4/4 that's really hard to block for a couple turns, with the downside of losing your haste source (and saving your opponent the trouble).

I think this is a really tricky puzzle that isn't always answered the same way.  It depends what is in your hand, what creatures your opponent has, and what kind of removal your opponent might have.  My answer, in a vacuum, is to put the counters on the Exemplar unless the opponent can block it immediately with something like the 2/1 embalmable Tah-Crop Skirmisher we discussed earlier.  I might even put the counters on the Exemplar anyway and just hope to attack later, depending what else is in my hand, although having two 1/1's in play doing nothing is not a great place to be if your deck is trying to be aggressive.

Wrap Up

New sets always come with lots of different examples of their new mechanics, and even if a mechanic is generally good, they will make sure to print it on some cards that are not very good.  Those cards are often at common, so when putting together your limited deck, make sure you pay attention to basic stuff like "How much power and toughness am I getting for my mana?" and "Is this a good mana curve with cards I am happy to play for their front side (meaning without factoring in cycling or embalm) at some point in a normal game?"  You can usually expect that uncommons and rares with new mechanics are pretty good.

Let me know what you think about the Bloodlust Inciter/Exemplar of Strength puzzle, and any other thoughts you might have.

Have fun!

FNM Draft Report 2017-04-04

This was my last chance to draft Aether Revolt before the Amonkhet prerelease next week.  I thought there wouldn't be a lot of people, but we actually had 24, for 3 full pods and 5 rounds of Swiss and cut to Top 8.  I will try to be a little briefer than usual since this is about to be a dead format.

The Draft

Full draft below, from lower left to upper right:

My first pack had Quicksmith Spy as its rare, and Maverick Thopterist and Treasure Keeper as other top picks.  The Spy might be the better card, but I really didn't want to play blue control, and a 2/3 for 4 mana is a bad creature.  Thopterist is also totally viable, but I favored staying open with the Treasure Keeper.  Next three picks I was rewarded with white removal, and after a couple more white creatures, I found a couple Scrounging Bandars to give me a little direction toward possible green.

Pack 2 gave me a massive rare in the Freejam Regent.  It also had a Monstrous Onslaught for green, but I decided if I was going to switch colors, this was the time for it.  The rest of Pack 2 looks like an entirely different draft than Pack 1, almost all red (and good red at that) aside from an Sram's Expertise that I was gifted at fourth pick.

My Pack 3 rare was Bristling Hydra, which might have been enough to pull me back into green, but I had so much good red and white that I decided I needed more good cheap artifacts to support my Improvise cards (Freejam Regent and Sweatworks Brawler).  I also passed an Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter.  The rest of the pack wasn't super exciting, but I drafted a Blooming Marsh to make sure I at least got some dollar value from the draft.  There was a drafting error somewhere and I only got 14 cards out of Pack 3, but it didn't really affect me since that would have been a land anyway.

The Deck

I stuck with the deck below for my main deck all night:

After a lot of hemming and hawing over the last few slots, I ended up with this deck, leaving the artifact removal out for the sideboard.  I was low on creatures in color so there wasn't much room for utility spells, and I went with only 15 lands (treating my small artifacts as another land or two).  I tried to argue for a more aggressive build, but the Regent is too good and I felt like it was worth having artifacts that do nothing but draw a card.  They also serve as fuel for Ravenous Intruder.

I didn't dip into the sideboard much.  Wrangle and Terror of the Fairgrounds were possibilities if I needed to be more aggressive, Destructive Tampering helps in stalled out games, Decommission and Tampering are both for bomb artifacts, and Alley Evasion and Acrobatic Maneuver might have come in if I was facing enchantment based removal (like my own white removal spells).

The Games

Quickly, if possible.

Round 1 I played K, a teen who had a white-red deck with 51 cards.  She was a pleasant opponent, but hadn't played Limited in close to a year.  I won Game 1 pretty easily, and then Game 2 we both got stuck at 2 lands, but I broke out of it first and it wasn't a contest. 2-0.

Round 2 I played J1, one of the regulars, with white-red-green revolt.  He had a Renegade Freighter and self-bounce like Acrobatic Maneuver in Game 1, and I fought through it for a tight win.  I sided in my two artifact killers.  I lost Game 2, but then Game 3 he got stuck with only Plains, and I won pretty easily.  2-1.

Round 3 I played J2, who also seemed like a good player (he was flicking his cards and had some "REL" habits like saying "Draw for turn").  He was blue-green with fliers and improvise.  Game 1 I drew 1 land, then zero, then zero, and I kept my mulligan to 5 with the hope that scrying and Implement of Sacrifice would help me get to lands.  It didn't, and I lost horribly (how crazy must your opponent think you when you don't play a Turn 1 land?).  I won a well-fought Game 2, and sided in Destructive Tampering for Game 3.  I won Game 3, but Tampering was stuck in my hand as all he had were fliers, non-artifact.  2-1.

Now I was in pretty good shape at 3-0.  The other two guys at 3-0 took a draw, but I couldn't because I was matched against an opponent who needed a win at 2-0-1.

Round 4 against B.  B was in white-black-green energy with a very strong deck.  He had been sitting across from me for the draft, and I recognized some of the cards from my passes, particularly a Winding Constrictor.  Basically everything he had made energy or +1/+1 counters.  His deck turned out to be the perfect counter to mine.  In Game 1, I had to decide whether to build my board or use removal first against his Longtusk Cub, Thriving Rhino, etc., and I decided to build my board first.  I cast Audacious Infiltrator, Aether Chaser, and got a Servo token, and then he wiped me completely with Foundry Hornet.  Second game he did the same to my Sram's Expertise tokens and Audacious Infiltrator, but I was doing a good job putting white enchantment removal on all his creatures (I actually had all 4 in play at the same time).  I got a couple of 3/3's out, and he used his extra energy to put 6 +1/+1 counters on his Longtusk Cub (using Constrictor to get double bonus), then he had Monstrous Onslaught to kill my creatures.  There was no chance of a comeback.  Loss, 0-2.

Round 5 I was able to intentional draw with C to guarantee a slot in the Top 8.  I got in a couple other games -- a Standard game where I got crushed by BG Delirium with my budget black Emerge/Recursion deck courtesy of a Kalitas that I couldn't kill, then I played my budget Frontier deck against a Modern Tron deck, and I actually could have maybe won if I had been a little more aggressive (he had a mediocre draw), but it was my first time playing this deck in its current form and I made a lot of strategic mistakes.

Wrap Up

When Top 8 was announced, there was one guy who wanted to play and 7 who were ok splitting, and they convinced him to go ahead and split.  Since I was in the Top 4, I got the FNM promo for the month (Servo Exhibition), plus 6 packs of Aether Revolt and $12.50 store credit.  I also traded my Blooming Marsh for an Inspiring Vantage, which was what I had hoped to do when I drafted it.  So below is my winnings.  The cards I drafted were relatively low value, but getting a share of Top 8 pays for it several times over.

Overall, I was 6-4 in games played and 3-1-1 in matches.  Considering I lost one game by seeing 3 lands in more than 20 cards (including mulligans), I'm pretty happy with the result.  From the draft, I had 3 rares, which is average, and 7 uncommons, which is less than the average 9.  I saw a lot of foils and no mythics, and drafted neither.

Sram's Expertise played very well because I had a bunch of 3-drop removal and creatures, and playing it followed by any of those feels very strong.  Treasure Keeper also worked well with 3-drops, but I didn't see it as often.  All of the removal was great, especially the white ones that don't care how big the targets are.  I wasn't sure when I picked it whether switching into red for Freejam Regent was a mistake, but it was powerful whenever I could cast it and it won me a couple games.

Good times, and can't wait for Amonkhet!  I look forward to the challenge of learning a new format, but I'll miss some of the fun interactions and low-mana decks of Aether Revolt.  AKH looks like it will be a bit slower and have a lot more mana sinks.

I love to hear any comments below!

Rating the Amonkhet Mythics

I think we've seen all the mythic rares from Amonkhet now (there isn't a logical spot remaining unless we're missing a planeswalker, or a multicolor or colorless card), so I'm going to give the 15 mythics some scores.  Each one gets 3 different rankings:

1. Is it Mythic?  Mythic rares, in my opinion, should be cards that have very large or unusual effects, cards that are oozing with flavor and have beautiful art, and cards that you don't want to just throw 4 of in a deck together.  They should not simply be high-power cards for competitive constructed play.  This will receive an overall letter grade.

2. Is it budget?  I'm going to take a stab at which of these end up under $2 during their Standard run for your budget decks.  This will receive a price range estimate.

3. How good is it in Limited?  Mythics run anywhere from mega-bomb to unplayable.  Let's see which ones you really want in your Sealed pool or your draft Pack 1.  This will receive a letter grade.

First, an overview of what we got.  There are 3 planeswalkers, which is about normal.  There is a full cycle of 5 gods, one in each color.  Each color also gets 1 more unthemed mythic (edit - plus one more red card!).  And the last one is a multicolor legend.  I'm going to go through them by group.

Planeswalkers

Gideon of the Trials

1. Planeswalkers are always mythic, and I can't really argue that any planeswalker shouldn't be.  Like most, this one has excellent full art and fits with the story.  The one place where I have a beef with Beefslab is that his third ability, which makes it so that you can't lose as long as you have a Gideon in play, rewards you for playing as many Gideons as possible in your deck.  That means not only does he want to be 4-of, but he wants you to include other mythic Gideons.  Also, the low casting cost makes him more likely to be used in multiples.  I give him an overall B for being Mythic.

2. Planeswalkers are never budget.  Ok, so some are cards that you can afford a couple copies in a budget deck, but not this guy.  I think he'll be $15 - $20, with a chance to be the most expensive card in Amonkhet.

3. Planeswalkers are usually very good in Limited.  The downside of Gideon of the Trials is that when you only have one copy, his third ability doesn't do anything if you lose him.  Mostly I think he's a really annoying lifegain spell with the ability to attack if your opponent has fallen behind on board.  I give him a B+ for Limited.

Liliana, Death's Majesty

1.  Again, she has all the aesthetic traits of a good mythic planeswalker.  Being at 5 mana, she's a lot less likely to fit into any deck as a 4-of.  This is how planeswalkers should be designed -- flashy and splashy.  A for mythic-ness.

2. Since I don't expect her to be included at more than maybe 2 copies in Standard decks, and she is too expensive for other competitive formats at 5 mana, I will peg her at $5 - $10.  Liliana and zombies are both super popular, so even if she isn't great in Standard, people will still want this card more than they want second-tier characters.

3. This is exactly what you want in Limited.  Make a zombie for 2 turns, and then the next turn kill almost everything else?  And that's without even considering the second ability, which is also great.  I will always pick this first in draft.  A+

Nissa, Steward of the Elements

1. Unlike the first two planeswalkers, Nissa brings something new to the table -- she's got an X in her casting cost, and an X for her loyalty.  Notice how they don't have any text to explain it.  We just understand what it means.  The art is fantastic, and overall, this is the pinnacle of what makes a card mythic.  A+

2. Since this card is designed so differently from most, I don't have a good feel for how powerful it is.  You can only get her to "stick" if you spend at least 3 mana, and you get to immediately attack for 10 if you spend 8 mana on her.  Her abilities make her want to be in either creature decks or land decks.  But she's multicolored, which is a little bit of a downside, and she's bad at protecting herself.  I'm going to say $5 - $15 based on the assumption that she will at least be desired by Commander players and people who just think it's a beautiful card, which will boost her floor.

3. Again, I'm puzzled.  Her first ability is ok, her second ability is very swingy, and her third ability is very strong but also makes her an 8-drop or requires you to protect her.  Plus she's two colors.  B- for Limited, possibly worse.

The Gods

  

Since these are all similar to each other, I'm going to rate them as a group and point out the differences where I see them.

1. These are gods.  They have indestructible.  They are legendary.  They have majestic art.  They are oversized for their casting costs, if you can meet the requirements to awaken them.  A

2. It's hard to guess at this point which of these will be the best.  They all play well into the things that their colors like to do.  I would guess that Hazoret is the least popular, although there are a number of cards in Standard now to support the "Heckbent" theme.  I don't think any of them are likely to be 4-of in normal competitive decks (being indestructible and legendary has its downsides), and none of them just scream out to be Modern or Legacy playable.  Commander players will like them ok, but not as commanders so often than as cards to fill other roles their decks want.  My guess is Hazoret $1 - $3, others $4 - $7.  Kefnet could go higher if a control deck using it becomes popular (much like Dragonlord Ojutai did), and it bizarrely also has synergy with landfall and lands that have "enters the battlefield" abilities. 

3. These seem good in Limited, but they aren't all the slam-dunk first picks that easy-to-cast mythic creatures often are.  The exceptions are Oketra and Rhonas, which both turn on easily if you are playing creatures, and that of course is what you are generally doing in Limited.  Oketra and Rhonas: A+.  The other 3: B+ due to requiring more "build-around."

Unthemed Mythics

Angel of Sanctions

1. This is the mythic to showcase the Embalm mechanic.  The art is good, the name is good.  The exile ability is an ability we see on uncommons all the time.  And she's a creature, so even the ability to bring her back doesn't guarantee her ability sticks around for long.  She's cool, but I think she's a rare, not a mythic.  D

2. A creature this expensive with no way to protect itself and an ability that becomes a liability against removal is not a competitive constructed card.  It may not even be a Commander playable card.  This is an easy pick for a budget mythic that may be good enough to try in your budget decks because no one will expect it.  $0.50 - $1.50

3. However, in Limited, this is a mega bomb flier with built-in removal and recursion.  A+

As Foretold

1. This is a mythic ability, for sure.  You get to start casting cards for free every turn, and it lasts for the rest of the game.  It has weird rules interactions, which is another mark of mythic-ness.  The art is pretty, but it could easily appear on a card of any rarity.  But it does show a big story moment -- the sun between the horns of Bolas (demonstrated by the hands) will bring some major consequences in the Amonkhet story.  It's the kind of card you want to use 4 copies of if you use any, but it might be too slow to play in competitive formats.  A-

2. There have been a bunch of weird blue spells at mythic in recent sets, and most are too expensive to cast.  Instead of being expensive to cast, this one is just slow enough that you probably have to wait until turn 5 or 6 before it really starts doing anything.  I have a hard time guessing this one, but it's $1 - $3 if it doesn't hit in any competitive format and over $10 if it does.

3. This kind of effect is very hard to build around in Limited.  You can't play cards that do nothing, and this one probably does nothing.  I would avoid playing it (although I'd draft it if it's worth money).  F

Combat Celebrant

1. This guy is the mythic to showcase the Exert mechanic.  I like the art, but the card text is extremely wordy to get across a relatively simple concept.  As a 3-drop, it can fit in multiple copies, but with only 1 health, I'm not sure he's really good enough for competitive play.  Unless I'm missing something, he doesn't seem to have any major story moment or flavor -- he's just another guy in the Amonkhet trials.  The art and the card both remind me a lot of Lightning Runner, but Lightning Runner was a little cuter with how she incorporated the Relentless Assault ability (you could potentially do it as many times as you had energy for), and she was the first creature ever with haste and double strike.  Combat Celebrant has nothing really special, and he gets a D.

2. I don't think this will see play in any constructed format.  The odd exception is that it combos infinitely with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, but even then you need an opening to attack.  $0.50 - $1.00

3. A 4/1 for 3 is ok, especially if you just need him to live one turn so he can cast Relentless Assault.  Without the benefit of evasion, surprise, or combat-winning abilities like first or double strike, he really wants you to already be winning on board before he's good.  C

Cruel Reality

1. Here we have an actual story moment card (see the watermark?), plus it's the first ever mythic rare curse.  I'm sure there are some shenanigans you can pull due to it being an aura and not a plain enchantment (Curse of Misfortunes being the most obvious synergy).  It is super expensive, but its effect is also huge.  This card could have been printed at rare, but I think it is special enough to fill the mythic criteria.  B+

2. As a 7-mana enchantment that might not do anything, this card is complete garbage in competitive formats.  Decks trying to cheat enchantments into play have better targets.  It might be seen in some Commander decks, but it loses a little appeal by only affecting one opponent in multiplayer.  $0.50

3. If you can make it work in Limited, it will win you the game eventually (provided your opponent doesn't have a repeat token generator or something).  Can you make it work?  Probably not often enough.  D+

Glorious End

1. I had to throw this one in late because it was just previewed today.  This is a weird card, and yes it is definitely mythic.  A
2. This is the kind of card that would break formats if it was too strong, and I think they are more careful balancing this kind of effect than they used to be.  It seems likely to stay fringy, and I would put it in the $1 - $4 range.
3. The "default mode" is basically Final Fortune -- you cast this on your opponent's upkeep to virtually get an extra turn (during which you have to win the game).  I don't think anyone should be playing this in Limited, but it does give you an edge in very close games.  D-

Vizier of the Menagerie

1. He looks good, but I don't think the art is especially mythic.  Like Grim Flayer, Relentless Dead, and various other recent mythics, I don't feel like he has much story importance, even compared to cards like Combat Celebrant.  He's more of the "world flavor" that can appear at any rarity.  As a vizier, he seems like he should be legendary -- after all, Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons is.  However, the abilities are very weird, and they definitely push him up the scale.  You can do some odd things with this card, like cast a bunch of Ornithopters off the top of your deck, or play a bunch of off-color creatures (including Eldrazi, since it adds any mana type, not color), or partner up with Nissa, Steward of the Elements and Courser of Kruphix to do all of the topdeck things together.  B-

2. If this guy becomes popular in Competitive constructed, it will only be because he's doing something degenerate (like casting all the cards on your deck).  In that case he'll be a 4-of, but I don't expect it.  He's too much mana to use in older formats unless there's a really broken interaction.  I do see him providing fun times in Commander.  $1 - $5

3. In Limited, he draws you extra cards sometimes (every time you see a creature that you'd cast instead of what's already in your hand -- and since it is only a free draw if you cast it, you can be a bit more generous about what you would cast over the cards in your hand), he fixes your mana sometimes, and at worst he's a 3/4 for 3G, which is ok.  B+

Samut, Voice of Dissent

1. Flash, haste.  Surprisingly, not a first -- Raging Kavu did this before either ability had a keyword, and Izzet Staticaster does it too (although in her case it lets her use a tap ability immediately on the opponent's turn).  Double strike, haste.  Lightning Runner is the only other creature to do this.  But the complete mess of abilities -- flash, double strike, vigilance, haste -- is unique and means you can do a lot of things with Samut.  Plus, she gives everything else haste, and the white activated ability is clearly a nod to Commander players.  She's a legendary story character.  I like the art, although it could just as easily be pretty art on a nameless 2/2 common.  A

2. This card looks super powerful, so I expect her to be used at least a little in competitive Standard decks.  But at 5 mana, it limits the number of copies in your deck a bit.  She also cries out to be a Naya commander.  I saw one person comment that they want to use her as a commander for an otherwise white-red angel deck to give access to green for mana ramp, not to mention group haste is a great Commander ability.  And she's just so strong that casual players will love her with oddball synergies like Odric, Lunarch Marshall.  $4 - $9.

3. In Limited, Samut is a bonkers creature who will generally give you a better board than any opponent.  She does trade with any 4/4, but she's a major threat, especially if you can pump her up.  You won't even need white in your deck; just splash her into any deck that has either red or green as a main color.  A

Wrap Up

So what's the best card in each category?

1. Nissa, Steward of the Elements is the most mythic card in Amonkhet.

2. Based on my expectations of card prices, I think the most viable mythics for your budget Standard decks will be Angel of Sanctions and Combat Celebrant.  That said, neither is super exciting to me.  The Angel is probably the better one to just throw into any old deck for value, but it does compete with Cataclysmic Gearhulk, another very good budget mythic.

3. Most of the mythics in this set seem at least playable in Limited, but my pick for best is Liliana, Death's Majesty.  I've played with other cards that give you a creature every turn in Limited, and when you're getting a 2/2 or better, it adds up very fast.  Add that you can access the ultimate ability fairly quickly, and this is a super strong Limited card.  Oketra (which also generates creatures, but smaller and for a cost) and Rhonas are both very strong, too.  Angel of Sanctions is a definite first pick, but not nearly as exciting because it feels more like two strong uncommons stapled together.

What do you think?  Did I misjudge any of these severely?  Are there some good interactions I missed?

FNM Draft Report 2017-03-31

Well, I got to draft Aether Revolt one more time before Amonkhet releases.  I was actually not sure whether it would be AER or Modern Masters 2017, but this weekend was a very light turnout and there weren't even enough people for MM3.  We had 13 for AER-AER-KLD draft, so it was a pod of 7 and a pod of 6, and I was in the 7.

Here is my full draft, starting at bottom left with Vengeful Rebel.

Pack 1 had Disallow, which is a surprisingly high dollar card (about $4) considering I'm not aware of a lot of decks using it competitively.  The best card for draft was Vengeful Rebel, and I happily took the good card over the $4 card.  Cruel Finality was the only other black card in the pack, so I thought I'd send a bit of a message with the pick as well.  Second pick was Rishkar's Expertise, which is a pretty strong card that I would love to play.  I had a notion that I'd end up in green, but that dried up pretty quickly (I have to admit the Lifecraft Cavalry and Barricade Breaker picks were both influenced by Rishkar's Expertise).  Thopter Arrest is a very good removal at 3rd pick, and when I got a Dawnfeather Eagle (a common that is better than a lot of uncommons and rares) later in the pack, I shifted my thoughts toward white over green.  Meanwhile, I was seeing a ton of blue cards, but I stuck with black.

Going into Pack 2, I was ready to shift into either green or white (or even both, as my Pack 1 had a couple good cards in each of those colors and not enough good black to be stuck in it).  I opened a pack with Quicksmith Rebel, a very strong red card.  The uncommons were Giften Aetherborn, Hidden Stockpile, and Monstrous Onslaught, a very strong double-green spell.  All 4 were good, and I don't even remember if there were good commons too.  This was a defining pick -- taking Rebel would have completely changed my draft by forcing red, and passing Onslaught would mean all but giving up on green.  Based on the way black had flowed to me in Pack 1, I thought I could send Hidden Stockpile around the table if I took the Aetherborn, so that's what I did.  I was also very conscious of needing 2-drop creatures after Pack 1 (which had none).  And as you can see, the Hidden Stockpile did come back for my 8th pick!  My next 2 picks were nice white fliers, and then Pack 4 was a shocker -- three people had passed on a Fatal Push!  I don't know what they took over it, but I saw a Renegade Map and Skyship Plunderer still in the pack also.  Anyway, Push (a $5 uncommon that is also very good in draft) was a no-brainer.  On my 6th pick, there was a Midnight Entourage waiting for me.  This was another amazing get, as it synergized with my two first-pick Aetherborns on top of just being straight up good.  Obviously, no one was wanting black much (it's possible that someone else was taking black and just got a better card in the same pack).  Later in the pack, I ended up with a bunch of blue cards that no one wanted, including a mediocre rare and the Plunderer, who is way too good to go around the table twice.

Pack 2 is where you cement your colors and deck themes, and Pack 3 is where you just take the best stuff you can to fit.  At this point, I was solidly black and probably white-black, and I also valued Aetherborn to go with the Entourage.  I had a minor revolt theme to support as well, and by the end of the pack, I had developed a minor artifact theme.  My Pack 3 rare was Insidious Will (a second counterspell featuring Baral in the art, after Disallow), so I again did not draft my rare.  I don't remember what all was in the pack, but I do think there were a few very nice green cards.  There was also a foil Aether Hub, which is a reasonable bet to maintain or even gain value over time (it's about $5 now after being over $20 when Kaladesh released).  It probably wasn't the best pick, but I did get Die Young from the pack to wheel, and Die Young might have been my second favorite card in the pack anyway.  After that first pick, it was just a parade of black and Aetherborn.  I considered passing Restoration Gearsmith to see if it would come back around, since it was clear no one else wanted to play it, but I counted the remaining cards and realized someone would probably just take it over a bad common before it came back.

In the end, I feel like I had a good pool in terms of synergy and broadly playable cards, but without the mega bomb level cards that I had last time (Release the Gremlins, Walking Ballista).

Here is my deck as I started.

It wasn't too hard to narrow it down, and I felt very good about it.  I played 16 lands, with a nudge toward black mana based on having a lot more black than white mana symbols.  I couldn't activate Welder Automaton except with Aether Hub, but I felt like it helped me with the artifact theme of a few of my cards and with staying on curve.

Here is my opening sideboard.

I ended up pulling out a couple of artifacts from my initial deck build, which made Underhanded Designs in the main deck a bit sketchier than I realized.  After my round 2 matchup, in which I was punished by his Perilous Predicament twice, I was convinced to put in Predicament instead of Designs.  I didn't realize it is an instant, which is way better for this kind of effect than being a sorcery.

With 13 people, we were playing 4 rounds of Swiss with a cut to Top 4.  I like having a small pool of opponents, but going to top 4 instead of Top 8 is a huge difference, because you don't automatically get in even at 3-1.

Round 1 was against D.  He is a Magic dad whose son was also present.  He seems pretty familiar with the set but is definitely not the highest level of player.  He was playing white-red "vehicles" with a splash of blue.  Game 1 I got Hidden Stockpile rolling -- that card is great once you get your first Servo.  I won pretty easily.  Game 2 was more even, and he made a big attack with Start Your Engines and two vehicles plus a creature.  I was able to kill the creature and take him down to 1 with an easy kill the next turn, but I was down to 3 life myself and all he needed was to draw a creature to crew one of his vehicles for the win.  He drew...Wrangle.  And he killed me with one of my own creatures.  Game 3 was the one time that I got Underhanded Designs to work as a removal spell.  I actually sideboarded out a Plains for Torch Gauntlet, which was risky but didn't hurt me.  I took the match 2 - 1 and felt pretty good about my chances.

Round 2 was against T, whom I have played a number of times before.  He's a good player and a good opponent, and he was black-red.  In Game 1, I drew 6 lands and Thopter arrest, and I mulliganed into 6 spells and 0 lands.  So I kept a 5-card hand with Aether Hub, and I scryed a nonland to the bottom.  I did start getting lands after a very slow start, but I was way behind.  Then he played Perilous Predicament and I had to sacrifice two "real" creatures to it, and I conceded in the interest of time.  Next game was much better, and I had Gifted Aetherborn on curve, but he got me again with Predicament, and then with Subtle Strike, and the board disadvantage piled up to the point where I couldn't keep up.  Loss, 0 - 2.

Round 3 was against B, who had been sitting to my left soaking up green cards during the draft.  His first pick was foil Oath of Ajani, and he drafted white-green and ended up opening Nissa, Vital Force in his KLD pack.  It's also notable that he only had 7 creatures in his deck, which is about half of what most people would consider acceptable in a limited deck.  The rest of his cards were pump spells and removal like Nature's Way and Prey Upon.  He is not a frequent player at the moment and he didn't know the cards from these sets very well, but he is definitely competent and fun to play with, if a little slow.  On top of that, we were 5 minutes late starting because he was outside fixing a problem with his car when the round started, and he took a restroom break after game 1.

Game 1 I had to mulligan, and I kept a hand with only Plains, which got me off to an only slightly slow start.  I was stabilizing on the board, and I played Midnight Entourage (next to a couple other creatures) with 5 life left against a Peema Aether Seer (3/2 that can spend energy to force a creature to block) and Ghirapur Osprey (2/2 flying).  He played Lifecrafter's Gift to put two 1/1 counters on the bird, forced the Midnight Entourage to block, and attacked with both, causing me to go to exactly 0 from the 4/4 bird plus the Entourage's ability as it was killed by the Aether Seer.

In Game 2, he led off with Narnam Renegade (1/2 deathtouch) and I followed with Gifted Aetherborn and then Fatal Push to kill the Renegade so that I could get some good hits in early.  This probably wasn't optimal use of Push, but we were way behind on time and I needed two quick wins.  I got up to 26 life and used Thopter Arrest and Perilous Predicament to kill 3 more creatures.  Then he pulled out the Arborback Stomper (5/4 trample, gain 5 life on ETB), which was a big counterswing, but I could still race him.  He double pumped a 2-power creature with Highspire Infusions and used Nature's Way to kill my Aetherborn, and attacked me for 13.  Still no problem, as he was out of cards and I had more creatures to play.  I maneuvered him down to 6 life, and he also got me to 3 with a couple more unblocked Stomper attacks.  I skipped an attack to build up enough defenses, then took him down to 3 with my Eagle, ready to win on the next turn if he didn't draw anything with haste or another pump (and I was holding a ready artifact/enchantment removal).  He drew Nissa, attacked with a hasty 5/5 forest and his other creatures, and my optimal blocking configuration left me at...exactly 0 life.  Loss, 0 - 2.

At 1 - 2 in matches and 2 - 5 in games, I dropped from the tournament.

In all, I felt like my deck and my play was pretty good but my luck was a little worse than normal.  Variance is a part of the game, and I know that I benefit from it at times also.  I have a tendency to be a little aggressive and force the opponent to have the answer, and that usually works pretty well for me in Limited.  This time it did lose me a creature with Subtle Strike, and it also allowed opponents twice to beat me with a top-deck pull when I decided to put them one turn from losing instead of being conservative (although I wouldn't have beaten Nissa even if I was conservative, and I had less than 8 minutes left in the round at the time).  I mulliganed more than my opponents, lost the opening dice roll every match, and had several keeper hands with the wrong mana colors.  I only drew Midnight Entourage in the game where it could kill me, and I never managed to pair it with another Aetherborn.  I never drew Weaponcraft Enthusiast.  Sometimes I was forced to play Restoration Gearsmith or Aviary Mechanic without a target to stay on curve.  My worst creature, Welder Automaton, was probably my most frequent creature in play.  On late game boards, I felt like I was drawing a lot of lands.

But I also drew Fatal Push and my other removal frequently, and in the first match I did some very strong things with Hidden Stockpile.  There are plenty of good things about this deck, and it is capable of playing good games even with its worse cards.  I would have liked a few more rounds to see what I could assemble, but that's just how it goes sometimes.

A note on Fatal Push and Vengeful Rebel: It feels weird making sub-optimal plays to enable revolt, but I felt that the payoffs on these cards are sometimes enough to do it.  I found myself a couple times attacking e.g. a 2/1 Welder Automaton into a bigger blocker to activate those cards.  My first opponent blocked and enabled it.  My second opponent allowed me to attack through.

Here are my rares and money cards:

I ended up with no value in rares, but instead with the best foil uncommon from KLD and the best uncommon from AER.  This is actually the first time I have seen Fatal Push in AER Limited play (prerelease and 3 drafts), either in my cards or my opponents'.  For raw numbers, I drafted 3 rares, which is what I would expect from 3 packs.  I drafted 15 uncommons, which is 5/3 (167%) of what I would expect from 3 packs.  Some of the uncommons and rares were late picks where I was just taking them over bad uncommons, and I only ended up playing 1 of my rares.

All in all a good time, but a poor performance that I feel fair blaming somewhat on natural variance.  I do enjoy this draft format a lot.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to comment!